Tom Brady: I deserve as much blame as the offensive line for sacks

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 27, 2012, 9:15 AM EST

Getty Images

Tom Brady was sacked 32 times last season, the most since his first year as the Patriots’ starting quarterback, and he’s already been sacked three times in just 30 dropbacks this preseason. But he doesn’t agree with those who see that as evidence of a problem on New England’s offensive line.

Brady said on WEEI that people who blame the offensive line for sacks don’t understand the full picture.

“Offensive football, 11 guys need to be on the same page,” Brady said. “When the offensive line’s expecting me to get the ball out quick and I hold on to the ball and I get sacked, then people may blame the offensive line, but really it’s the quarterback’s fault. Sometimes there’s coverage sacks, where the defensive coverage, there’s just not a place to find to throw the ball, and the offensive line, like I said, is expecting a certain rhythm of a play and it doesn’t come out that way. It could be a number of things.”

According to Brady, he’s getting everything from the offensive line that he needs.

“Our offensive line, they work their tail off,” Brady said. “They’re out there giving everything they’ve got. From a quarterback standpoint, we’ve got plenty of time to throw the ball and find the right guy. We have to do a better job of doing our job, which is getting the ball out when we need to get it out, get it to the open receiver and let our guys do something with it.”

Brady standing behind his offensive line is admirable. But if he keeps getting sacked once out of every 10 times he drops back, he’s going to have a hard time standing behind his offensive line all season.

When tackles get Brady crushed, Brady takes the blame. When tackles get Peyton Manning crushed, Manning points the finger faster than anyone in the league

richndc says:Aug 27, 2012 9:25 AM

The offensive line has been in complete disarray after “the incident” which left them all very afraid to bend over with Brady behind them. I hear Koppen’s stitches will be out in a few more days….reportedly it was a savage and gruesome attack.

I heard this interview and he never said he deserves as much blame as the offensive line. He did say that sometimes you (viewer) cannot tell who is to blame for sacks. He said sometimes you get coverage sacks (receivers not getting open) and sometimes the offensive line is expecting him to get rid of the ball sooner. When the interview is available on weei.com, people can listen to it and draw their own conclusions. But I think he was mainly sticking up for an offensive line that is struggling. The last think he is going to do on the radio is attack this group. Brady is one of the smarter guys around when it comes to answering questions from the media and defending his teammates in public.

In the very same interview, he also said that Chad Johnson was a great teammate. Let’s face it. Tom Brady is not about showing up current or former teammates in the media. However, he is not above yelling at teammates on the sidelines and no doubt, in the locker room as well.

“You know these guys look bad, I know these guys look bad, but hey, it’s the beginning of the year, we have some new players, and some in a different spot then they are use to. I have to say that they are going a good job, working hard and that it is on me not them. Because if I say it is on them, boy oh boy will I be in for a world of hurt.”

Tom knows that he needs the protection, and the only way he is going to get it is if he give them a pat on the back instead of a kick in the butt (which is what they really need).

Just listened to the interview again and he said in certain situations it’s his fault. I don’t think he gave these guys a free pass at all.

The best thing that could happen this week for the Patriots is Waters showing up at Foxboro and letting them know he is playing the season. A healthy Mankins, combined with Vollmer, Waters, Solder, and Connolly will make many of these problems go away pretty quickly.

Lets be truthful, if the primary officials was calling the games, the sacks would be voided. If you even think about breathing on Tammy Brady, flags would be all over the field. Keep the replacement officials.

This sounds exactly like something Peyton Manning would say about his offensive line…..PSSSSSSTT HAHAHA just kidding. Manning would throw his whole team under the bus as long as the blame doesn’t come back to him cause it’s NEVER Peyton’s fault NEVER. I swear him and Marino are related some how.

I respect Brady sticking up for his guys, but the Pats O line has generally been very solid up until recently. He usually has all day to throw the ball. How else do you explain the Pats having the 5th best offense and an 11-5 record with Matt Cassel under center in 2008?

radrntn says:Aug 27, 2012 11:45 AM

watching solder playing in the senior bowl told me all I needed to know about him

redrew says:
Aug 27, 2012 9:23 AM
When tackles get Brady crushed, Brady takes the blame. When tackles get Peyton Manning crushed, Manning points the finger faster than anyone in the league
———————————

When has Manning ever thrown his OL under the bus other than an ill-advised comment he made immediately after the play-off loss to the Steelers

Mods – why do you keep deleting my post? What am I posting that is offensive or inappropriate? Is it because you are biased towards Peyton Manning and thus it’s ok to keep negative posts about him but remove posts that defend him? At least be honest mods.

thewigglr says:
Aug 27, 2012 11:21 AM
This sounds exactly like something Peyton Manning would say about his offensive line…..PSSSSSSTT HAHAHA just kidding. Manning would throw his whole team under the bus as long as the blame doesn’t come back to him cause it’s NEVER Peyton’s fault NEVER. I swear him and Marino are related some how.
———————————-

Other than the Steelers post-game interview, when has he ever done this?

Right, that’s what I thought – make stuff up and pass it off as facts. Seems to be the modus operandi for you idiots

Yeah that’s a great job of Brady sticking up for his teammates. Always liked that about him. Just because he’s successful people hate on him. Just watch the Brady 6 special. He wasnt handed anything. He worked hard to get where he is and this is a perfect example of how he’s the best man for the job. Even as a big time giants fan I have to express my respect for Tom Brady.

captkai says:
Aug 27, 2012 11:27 AM
I respect Brady sticking up for his guys, but the Pats O line has generally been very solid up until recently. He usually has all day to throw the ball. How else do you explain the Pats having the 5th best offense and an 11-5 record with Matt Cassel under center in 2008?
=================================

I will do my best to explain the 11-5 record under Cassel. First, it was one very easy schedule. I don’t believe they defeated one team with a better than .500 record. This was also a 5-game drop off from the previous year. It was a wasted opportunity since Miami played a very similar schedule and also went 11-5 and had a tie breaker over the Pats. Not all 11-5s are created equally. Matt Cassel was a nice surprise. But the revisionist history about this being a great 11-5 season and that proves that Tom Brady is not so great is a bunch of spin from those who don’t like Tom Brady. In Tom Brady’s ten healthy seasons as starter, he has taken his team to Super Bowls in 50% of those years and won 30% of all Super Bowls. He has had very defenses, mediocre defenses, and bad defenses through the years. When all is said and done, he is the only LOCK (other than the coach) from all of those teams to get in the Hall of Fame (not counting Seau, whose years in SD will get him there or Moss). I suppose you could argue that Vinatieri and Law have very good shots to get in.

castleanthrax says:Aug 27, 2012 1:24 PM

Best block of the night came from Ridley. A LB was free running thru the line and Ridley got enough of him to stop him cold.

Of all roles the O line needs to be the most on board with one another and it’s not there yet. We have Dante Scarnecchia on patrol so it will come to a solid group.

I respect Brady sticking up for his guys, but the Pats O line has generally been very solid up until recently. He usually has all day to throw the ball. How else do you explain the Pats having the 5th best offense and an 11-5 record with Matt Cassel under center in 2008?

The easiest schedule in the history of easy schedules!
West/West when both were crap that year.
the Pats finished third so the rest of the AFC were also beating up on those cup cakes out west.
They couldn’t beat any good teams but they didn’t beat themselves against bad teams so the end result was 11-5 and missing the playoffs.

The line was good though, nobody throws 50TDs
in a year if their line isn’t good and I don’t remember any turnover from the 2007 team where Brady did that

@ pastabelly says: Aug 27, 2012 1:18 PM
I will do my best to explain the 11-5 record under Cassel. First, it was one very easy schedule. I don’t believe they defeated one team with a better than .500 record.

===================================

I think we can assume the Pats generally have an easy schedule nearly every year with the help of an incredibly weak AFC East for the past decade. The Bills haven’t been to the playoffs since the ’90s.

I’m not saying Tom Brady isn’t a great QB. I just think his coach and team have helped him a lot more than people admit. Ok, he hasn’t necessarily had great WR or RB talent around him, but his O lines have always been rather good. You won’t find official stats on how well a team’s O line performs, but Football Outsiders is about the most scientific approach I’ve seen. Averaging run blocking and pass blocking, the Pats O lines were in the Top 5 in 5 of the past 10 seasons, and Top 10 in 7 of the past 10 seasons.

On defense, NE’s D give up a lot of yards, but in fewest points allowed, [again] their D has been in the Top 5 in 5 of the past 10 seasons, and Top 10 in 7 of the past 10 seasons. He’s getting more help on the other side of the ball than people give Belichick’s defense credit.

Yes, the Pats had a 5 game drop off, but you’re comparing that to a record 16-0 season.

Matt Cassel was 4-12 with the Chiefs in 2009. That’s a 7 game drop off from the 2008 Pats. Ok, new team/system, but we’ve seen what Cassel is made of since then. All I’m saying is that Cassel is probably not an 11 game winner on (just about) any other team. And I’d submit that Brady is probably not a 16 game winner on (just about) any other team.

Seriously? Is he going to blame his O-Line publically? I have mucho respect for Brady, but at some point it got painful watching Dan Marino and Joe Montana in the declining years. Not saying Brady is there yet, but it is coming as soon as next year. If he gets pushed around like this PreSeason, it will be sooner.